“I don’t want to predict when we will get out of recession”: Kemi Adeosun Speaks on Recession & The Sale of National Assets

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has said that she does not want to predict when the country will get out of the economic recession, adding that the Federal Government is focused on getting the economy to grow, thus getting it out of recession.

PUNCH reports that Adeosun said this at an interview in Abuja. She said that the Federal Government’s efforts are already yielding results.

“I don’t want to predict when we will get out of recession. Let me tell you that we will get into growth and that’s how you get out of recession, because of the stimulus that we are providing.

And it may take longer than we would like, but we will definitely get out of it. We are already seeing some positive signs in agriculture and solid minerals;and with what we are trying to do with other sectors, I am very sure we will get out of it soon,” Adeosun stated.

Recall that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele had recently said that the economy will start getting out of recession by the fourth quarter. Read it here.

Adeosun disclosed that lots of foreign investors are still interested in coming into the country.

She also said that the Federal Government has not yet decided on which assets to sell and the sale arrangement.

“I think there are a number of assets that are being considered and I don’t think we have said this one or that one. There are some unused assets that are just lying idle, which people have come and suggested that ‘these things you are not using, can we lease them from you for money?’

Hence, when they lease them from us, the taxes are still going to come to us. So, there are some things the government is sitting on, we don’t have money to do it, it makes sense for me to unlock those things. So,they bring money into the economy at these difficult times so that we can move forward.

We have not got to the stage of saying it’s this asset, or that. But it’s more of the conversation around should we just keep on borrowing or shall we know that things are a lot more difficult than we envisaged and turn on to an alternative strategy, which is looking at some of the underutilised assets and releasing them.

We think that the infrastructure challenges that we face are so serious and the kind of money that we need, we can’t borrow. When you have an accumulated deficit, you need to look for the money that will sustain what you are doing for the next three to four years.

That is what we are doing, having more of a strategic approach so that over time, we will borrow less, and which of course is good,” she said.

Adeosun said that the sale arrangement for the assets will depend on the class of asset.

“There are some assets which you can lease and others you may need to divest from. The investor will also have to look at the risks and the pricing. Some assets just make sense to just leave them and there are some, which you may just sell but still hold on to the majority stake.

So, it makes sense and you can sell to the Nigerian people and list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. So, there are different kinds of sales,” she added.

On borrowing and the failure of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to reduce the interest rate, the minister said:

We are looking at a range of options and one of the biggest issues for us was the cost of borrowing. Of course, the government is the biggest borrower. So, what we have said from the beginning was that we will look for cheaper funds to bring down our cost of borrowing.

Currently, it is cheaper to borrow internationally than to borrow locally.So, we are working with the Debt Management Office to try and refinance some of the existing local debts into external to get lower interest rates and to structure them over the medium term.

That will reduce our cost of debt servicing and increase the amount of money available for capital projects, which is really our focus.

Raining insults on the poor woman will not get us out of recession. But truth be told nobody can predict when we will get out of recession. So lets be matured in our comments, insulting people got us her in the first place, or have we all forgotten how we insulted NOI until she helped us wreck our economy or do we all think we got here by magic?

What I don’t get is y they are suddenly jumping on this matter since it was mentioned by dangote. The man wants a piece of the national assets and this so called people in power ought to know that’s his motive here

This administration is absolutely useless,rather than look for ways to cut our oversize federal government they are trying to sell assets for the 2016 budget meanwhile it’s almost October, will they sell more assets to fund 2017,2018 and 2019 budget useless people. When you vote base on bigotry and tribalism you elect the worst possible choice.

I agree with you, Mrs Adeosun & Alhaji Dangote. I do not think that he gave that advice because he wanted a piece of the cake. He is the wealthiest man in Africa and and by some standards an Institution in wealth creation, therefore I will listen to him any day for financial tips. Sale of Assets is another form of the much needed foreign investment and is still better than taking facility from IMF/World Bank or Paris Club. I understand from Economists that we need to spend our way out of recession by way of stimulating the economy with investments that will create jobs. Federal Government should play a strong regulatory role in ensuring that the process is done with high level of due diligence. Assets like Refinery, Steel Plant, Power Plants should be sold outrightly. Airports, Federal Roads, Railway lines, Intra-city Transportation should be concessioned to Companies to manage. Lands should be given to Foreign Investors under (BOT) to provide thousands of different categories of housing schemes. All (except one for international trips) the planes in Presidential Fleet should be sold and PMB and co should be flying commercial Airways. There is so much expenses to cut off and save money. More Refineries licenses need to be given out to Investors to build modular refineries so that we can reduce importation minimally . Sorry Petroleum Product Importers, pls bear with us so we can save millions of dollars. If the power stabilizes, we will spend less on fuel consumption and importation of Generators.

She cant predict because she is not a witch or a soot seer and she cant see the future, also she doesn’t want to predict and then some people will hold her to her words and try to persecute her. Dangote mentioned it and he is one of the richest men in the world, what would the world say if we do not listen to the words of the richest man in Africa?

The FG is still looking into the sale of some assets, they has not even been agreed upon or concluded. So lets relax and not give ourselves an aneurysm.

Kemi Adeosun is doing a fabulous job and its high time we start commending her for the efforts she is making rather than berate and belittle her efforts like we did with NOI when she was with OBJ and Jonathan.

@Philip Dangote cannot tell Nigeria what to do with his assets or how to get out of a recession! He does not have that knowledge !the fact he has used past and present governmen to kill businesses in Nigeria ,making him the richest man in Africa is not a yard stick that he understands policies !If Kemi Adeosun does not shut her mouth and focus more on her work ,and give Nigerians a break down of her strategy on how she will break down her high solutions and the action plan she has in place !as she is beginning to cut across like she is overwhelmed with the job!

She just gave us a breakdown of what the FG plans to do, but as always we are not seeing it but are blinded by our sentiments. Do we not understand the impact diversifying our economy would have? Do we not understand the impact of being disciplined in our spending? or that if we invest in our infrastructure it would boost our economy? What or rather which of her plans do we not understand? The fact that we over depended on oil and let other sectors that can and could boost the economy go to waste or the fact that some sectors have been abandoned for so long they are as good as been dead.

Or are we blind to the fact that we did not save during the oil boom. Yes i know the previous administration said they left some money in the account, but do you know that money is the same amount Ghana makes every year and they do not have oil, now if Ghana that is not even as big as Lagos state makes that in a year how do you expect that to sustain a country like Nigeria?

Kemi Adeosun is doing a fabulous job, if it were not for her we wont know some of the things we know now. We all want to leave big like American and the British, but do we know the sacrifices they had to make to get to where they are now? Do know know how often they pay taxes? or the fact that they do not spend money frivolously like we do?

Lets wakeup people, leave Kemi Adeosun alone to do her job, its all for our own benefit.

@Philip,I guess you are the one blinded by sentiments here! Because last week she came out to say by the last quartered the of this year or first quarter of next year ,Nigeria will be out of recession! Now less than a week , she is coming out to say a different story!We are spending on infrastructure , name the roads, the rail, even agric, put numbers to them! The way she is going I see her being sacked , she cannot just be giving blanket overview!as she is already displaying a very high level of ineptitude !so please face the crux of the matter and stop coming here to display your blind loyalty , why can’t she just shut her trap and focus on the job?I supported her before now,but if she had just continued to focus , instead of giving us weekly situational report, as if she is a journalist!she should work! Nigerians are tired of stories from angles of this leadership , the stories are getting really out of hand!

@ Phillip… Ghana did not have Boko Haram.
The last administration had to deal with that. In spite of Dasuki gate ,
Boko Haram had its toll on our economy in the last administration
Not a a fair comparison !

Lacey liking her own comments since 1900. The thing irrelevant likes will cause on a faceless blog. You must be a very dumb girl. You alone was ranting here all of last month on how fantastic Kemi is. So, what has changed all of a sudden?. You are so fickle. I also think you are prone to lie a lot too.

@Nerve I do not have to prove anything to you!Please try and like your own comments! I come here to have fun, so if it is making you sad, then I will have to say goodluck to you! I am agianst the sale of Nigerian assets,not here for your gibberrish!

“This Recession will Soon Come to an End – Kemi Adeosun Assures Nigerians”
“…From what we are looking at we do not think that it will be a prolonged recession; we think that some of the initiatives that we are working on will now begin to bear fruits……”
16.09.2016. NAN —

It baffles me when people hurl insults at the finance minister. I think she’s doing well in the face of all she’s going through. NO I did not have this much financial challenge when she started borrowing to pay salaries.
A beg let’s give her the benefit of doubt. I believe she’ll drive us out of this recession in a short while. I like how she constantly communicates her thoughts and policies.

The FG just announced they will be selling 5% of their stake in NLNG. This is a bad move. Seriously, the fact that Nigerians cannot see they are being played is very funny. I was all for Buhari, but certain things that are happening are just plain out wrong. And if we the supporters dont speak up against it then this government will be worse than the last government. Finally, Bellanaija, I take God beg you make you remove the tab below. It is quite stressful trying to read and comment on articles especially via mobile phone. Customer is King oooo :). People have been shouting and today I felt their pain. Please don’t go the route of our current government by ignoring our plea. Lol

I wonder why any Nigerian is listening to this selfish set of people that are governing this country. Tell me of any effort that they have made to help this country? Other countries like Tanzania etc are cutting down on things like salaries of the executives, sitting allowances, number of delegates, number of cabinets, economy flights for government officials etc, but none in Nigeria because they have not thought of that because they can’t be inconvenienced for the whole world. But all they know is always the easiest way out like borrowing and assets sale that would still benefit them indirectly. Take for instance in Nigeria now, many families have started to cut down a lot to survive rather than selling their assets because it would never be sustainable for a long period of time. If you like sell your life join if you do not have any good plan with the money you will finish and continue to look for more things to sell. What serious plan have they to ensure that all states harnesses it’s natural resources? Rather their families are Still flying private planes for insignicant meetings with taxpayers money. Selling of our enviable assets should be the last on the list if only this people are kind and have genuine love for Nigeria as good leaders should!

@Suga thank you so much!I wish ,I could like comments a million times! some people are just so silly on this blog!imagine finance minister that was all for diversification of the economy last week, is now coming up with asset sales in less than two weeks! that is to say she is being controlled on what to do!ask me how assets will affect growth of the economy!When the leaders should actually be the first to cut their salaries!